With the beginning of the fourth year of the Coronavirus pandemic, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), expressed his optimism for the end of the pandemic in 2023. During a press conference held today at WHO’s headquarters in Geneva, Dr. Ghebreyesus indicated that COVID-19 was on the decline for the majority of last year. He added that vaccination increased throughout the world, as many countries with low or middle incomes, which had been far behind in 2021, made sustained progress.
With more than 25 countries already reporting the presence of a variant of COVID-19, COVID-19 remains one of the most serious threats to the health, economies, and societies in general, especially given the rapid spread of its variants, with over 25 countries reporting the presence of a new variant. “As WHO closely monitors and assesses the risk associated with this sub-variant, we will report accordingly”, said Dr. Ghebreyesus.